Geneva Creek Hiking, Day 2

The 2nd day saw me up bright and early.
Yeah, right!!! Not me!! I slept in! Damn right! Beer before bed, coffee in the a.m., and hittin' the trail no earlier than 9:30a.


Here is probably the best river crossing (deepest). Since I'm not done planning the race route, it's not certain.


Pass the Swampy pond...


It dawned on me that many people who have never been to Colorado don't know this bit of lore/history. Just about anywhere and everywhere you can go in the Colorado Rockies, you will see stumps. Just when you think you're standing where no human has EVER stood before, there's a stump. Not blown-over by wind, but either sawed or chopped. Back in the mining years, they cut just about every tree that grew in the state. Railroad tracks, mine tunnel shoring, firewood, housing, you-name-it. And the sad thing is, just like slaughtering buffalo from trains and leaving hundreds of carcasses to rot in the sun, you can find swathes of old stumps with the mating trees laid across the ground next to them. Without chainsaws, this was particularly lousy management. I'm sure the grunts who cut these trees down were peeved at the idiots they worked for.


Of course, Ma Nature has it's own destructions, but somehow it always ends up as art!


Beirstadt from much further away, along Trail 600.


Top of the ridge, with Red Cone in the center of the pano. This road has far more traffic than I like. People riding 2-stroke engines always seem to drive like idiots. It's like a contest to see who can put the most smoke and dust into the air. But the ridge that climbs on the left is so steep, they have to gun the cramp outa their engines, or they won't make it. And that's the ridge my runners would be going up and down.


The road is so treacherous, if you're not careful, you'll lose your "S".




Whoa! Now I know where baby trees come from! Look at the cahones on that bull tree! I'm just glad I didn't have to see a woody too!


There's only one way to end a hard day on the trail, and it ain't YOGA!!